Paychex Case Study

Article Highlights

Study Title: Paychex Case Study
Study Authors: National Business Coalition on Health
Publication Date: 2008
Complete Study: View Complete Abstract

For over 35 years, Paychex has helped millions of business owners and managers with payroll, human resources and benefits outsourcing solutions. Recognized as a top national provider of these business solutions, Paychex is headquartered in Rochester, NY, with more than 12,000 employees and more than 100 locations across the country.

Promoting Wellness

“Providing the services to help our employees live well-balanced, healthy lives has been key to our company’s growing success.” Bob Merberg, Wellness Program Manager

Paychex strives to help its employees maintain a high quality of life while maximizing productivity and minimizing health care costs for the company. To that end, Paychex has made a number of wellness resources available to employees, including:

Wellpower – The Paychex Wellness Program, which helps employees better understand and manage their health by completing a health assessment questionnaire and gaining onsite access to important health screenings and other resources
Health Advocate, which provides employees and their eligible dependents with confidential assistance in understanding health care needs, options and solutions
Employee Assistance Program, which offers employees short-term, confidential counseling services to address personal concerns, such as marital problems and alcohol or drug abuse

Implementing a Tobacco Cessation Program

In the fall of 2007, Paychex set out to implement a comprehensive smoking cessation program that would strengthen its existing smoking-related benefits, including reimbursing employees for 50 percent of the cost of cessation services and rewarding employees who don’t use tobacco by offering them lower payments for their medical coverage.To develop this program and integrate it into its overall wellness plan, Paychex enlisted Free & Clear, Inc., a highly specialized tobacco treatment provider that uses a clinically proven, comprehensive approach to treat physical addiction, psychological dependence and behavioral patterns.

“Quit for Life” Program

Free & Clear’s treatment sessions are designed to help the smoker create and adhere to an individualized quit plan that reflects smoking history, previous quit attempts and specific behaviors. In addition, Free & Clear provides stage appropriate, individualized encouragement and support to participants.

Program resources include:

Toll-free, in-depth telephone counseling support services with a professional Quit Coach® (up to 5 outbound calls) scheduled at the participant’s convenience to discuss topics including: Triggers that lead to smoking; History of past quit attempts; Level of interest in quitting; Myths or misconceptions about quitting; Appropriate use of tobacco cessation medications; Need for support of friends, family and co-workers.
Unlimited toll-free telephone access to Quit Coaches® for the duration of their treatment program.
Recommendations on the type, dose and duration of medication, if appropriate.
A Quit Kit of materials to help the participant quit tobacco through active self-management
Access to print and online information, including:Workbooks that address different stages of readiness to quit, written with a health literacy expert; Materials geared toward specific populations, such as smokeless tobacco users, pregnant smokers, and Spanish-speaking participants; WebCoach™ on-line community with e-learning tools, social support, and information about quitting.
Follow-up to assess satisfaction and outcomes

To support the introduction of Quit for Life, Paychex rolled out an extensive communication effort over several months, including:

Posters, newsletters and benefit announcements
Brochures and Paychex branded giveaways at open enrollment events
Home mailing, e-mails and Intranet postings
Management previews for supervisors and managers
A network of Wellness Champions throughout the company to announce the program at meetings and other venues

Outcomes

Paychex estimated that 21 percent of its employees used tobacco, based on national averages, and established a quit rate goal of 34 percent. By January 2008, 512 employees had enrolled in the program and 28.1 percent had made a serious quit attempt. As of October 2008, 1,291 employees (34 percent of estimated tobacco users) were enrolled. To track the success of the program, Paychex worked with Free & Clear to conduct a survey of enrollees. The survey revealed that:

Fifty-one percent of participants had successfully quit using tobacco
Most enrollees heard about the program through the Intranet; a co-worker,family member or friend; or e-mail
Ninety-two percent of the enrollees are employees; the rest are spouses or eligible dependents
Sixty-five percent of enrollees are female
Sixty-nine percent of enrollees said they were in the “preparation” stage of quitting; 4 percent were in the “contemplation stage”; and 11 percent said they were taking action

In addition, a separate analysis showed that 94 percent of participants have WebCoach™ (web based support) accounts; these participants displayed a 45 percent log-in rate. On average, participants visit discussion forums 3.3 times per month. Paychex is continuing to evaluate its smoking cessation program, and will implement learnings into future program components.

Lessons Learned

Paychex recommends the following to achieve success:

Using a specialty vendor to provide proven support and counseling
Removing barriers to access for employees
Providing program information to employees who continue tobacco use
Working with state and local ordinances to implement programs in multiple locations

In addition, Paychex is reinforcing its premium differential policy by offering its most affordable medical coverage options only to employees who participate in specific health improvement programs, such as tobacco cessation. The company also is looking for more flexible ways to engage employees in its wellness programs.

CDC Guidelines

This case study illustrates one example along the broad spectrum of steps employers have taken to improve the health and quality of life of their employees while protecting their company’s own financial health. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention recommends the following actions for a comprehensive smoking cessation benefit:

Cover at least four counseling sessions of at least 30 minutes each, including telephone and individual counseling sessions
Cover all FDA-approved nicotine replacement products and tobacco cessation medications
Provide counseling and medication coverage for at least two smoking cessation attempts per year
Eliminate or minimize co-pays or deductibles for counseling and medications

This case study was developed by NBCH as part of an educational initiative supported by Pfizer Inc. More about this project is available at www.nbch.org.